A Loving Heart
by Dethia1101
Summary: Request from Hikari.Glaceon.hime.1993. Hikari had never forgotten: her love for him, her happiness being around him. Now he's back, and despite all he's done she still cares for him. Sasuke had tried to forget: her smile, her sparkling hazel eyes, how she made him feel complete. Now she's within reach again, and he finds his attempts to forget failed. Love begins all knowledge.


**=^_^= Hoooooola! I'm back and with my verrrry FIRST request here on Fanfiction! **

**This is For  .Hime.1993. It features her OC Hikari Aino. **

**I _believe_ it will amount to be a 3 to 4 chapter mini-story, so please be patient. I'm doing this behind my teachers back =_="".**

**So without further ado!**

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_A loving heart begins all knowledge._

**_Thomas_**_ **Carlyle**_

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Hikari could recall with near perfect clarity the moment he re-entered the village. Chakra seals covering his onyx eyes, cuts marring his skin, chakra cuffs around wrists that were behind his back. His clothes were obviously worn, frayed in some places, torn in others. His black hair, longer now, was matted and limp, instead of spiking up as it once did. A thin layer of dirt covered his entirety.

Hikari could recall the numerous times she went down to his cell to speak with him, as no other member of the non-profit organization she had joined (whom had sworn to aid all prisoners in hopes they would reform). She told him of the happenings within the village since he had left, and later on her day when she ran out of past things to speak of. How it soon became so ingrained in her to speak to fill the long silences that she was shocked into silence when he chuckled about her rant over the impossibility of dealing with grumpy old fruit vendors.

Hikari could remember the nervousness she held when speaking to the Konohagakure Council of Family Heads about his improvements since his capture, about the improvements several specialists had already confirmed. And her surprise when it was ruled that team Taka would be placed on house arrest.

And then the most shocking: how Hikari still coming to speak with him at the Uchiha compound whenever she was not on missions, slowly evolved. So slowly, painfully obvious to an outsider, that they were becoming close. The ANBU assigned to him noticed that on the few times Hikari was assigned on missions his temper was shorter, he was much more withdrawn, and that much more likely to snap at his blonde friend Naruto. How, when Hikari wasn't on missions, he watched the clock like the hawk he named his team after, waiting for the time when she usually visited.

And the straw to break the camels back? When she returned from a mission with cuts, bruising and a broken arm. The ANBU were worried that they would have to go down there and restrain the Uchiha from killing the other members on the cell she went with, Kiba Inuzuka and Neji Hyuuga, neither of which bore injuries as critical as the hazel-eyed young women in between them.

So the Hokage made a decision: She deemed that a approved ninja that was Chunin rank or higher would be placed within the homes of Team Taka to better assess their improvements.

So while Shino was placed with Juugo, Sakura with Karin, and Kiba with Suigetsu, Hikari _obviously_ went to be with Sasuke, much to the disgruntlement of Karin, Ino, Sakura, and Naruto (who was still technically a Genin).

And they grew even closer. Hikari, who was naturally a homemaker, swiftly made the house a home, happy to not be alone any further in her apartment. Sasuke was happy to see his old home gain life once again, and even happier to have Hikari closer to him. And the ANBU reported, while the others were having difficulty adjusting, Hikari and Sasuke had easily fallen into a pattern and there was already a positive effect being had on the young Uchiha. Tsunade simply smirked.

The main downside to this new arrangement came with assigning Hikari missions. Now when she was gone the young Uchiha wasn't just irritable, he was downright savage. Yes, his friends were allowed to visit, but going anywhere near him without a tangible excuse (as Naruto almost always lacked) caused either a particularly fierce glare and a threat, and for certain cases (Naruto, Kiba, Lee) a beating. The one time Hikari returned from a mission with enough wounds to warrant a over night visit to the hospital, it was Naruto who convinced him to stay in the compound, forcing him to realize that his leaving without permission would only hurt her more, as he would be placed back in the cell and under all types of seals for a unforeseeable future.

When she returned the next day, things had changed drastically. The moment she walked through the door, she was roughly gripped and tossed to the nearest soft surface -the couch- and treated to a rant that went from insulting her team for that mission to insulting the enemy who caused it, somehow completely avoiding her as the cause of her own wounds, which finished with him simply asking: _"Do you know how worried I was when I heard you were in the hospital?!" _And in the silence that resounded in the aftermath, with wide hazel eyes that gazed at him, he sat himself next to her and laid his head on her shoulder. Hikari had stayed still for a moment, a blush covering her face, before slowly maneuvering it so that she was resting against the arm of the couch and his head was lying on her chest, his body reclining on her between her legs.

Slowly, so very slowly, she raised her hands to run her hands through his black hair, and just as slowly, he relaxed, and let his arms come up to encircle her waist. They stayed like that for the rest of the night, simply basking in in the affection freely given.

It was when the change was acknowledged by the two.

Sasuke became more protective and possessive, now openly glaring at the males who fawned and flirted with Hikari just outside the Uchiha compound's entryway while he waited. Those who knew him well enough, saw his gaze soften when it landed on her, saw the glint of some unnamed emotion when she entered his line of sight.

Hikari, in turn, seemed to become more sensitive. Whenever she noticed Sasuke's eyes on her she blushed lightly. Whenever they seemed to get too close to each other, she would light up, brighter than a red Christmas light. But he smiles were more genuine, more radiant. Her eyes held a twinkle in them that many had not seen since their Academy days.

And now, they were more in tune than before, Hikari need only look up and give Sasuke a look that had him calming down, a touch on his arm sometimes if it was really bad. Sasuke could, without much contemplation, pick something up and hand her it and it could be the very thing she was searching for.

And that was only to an Outsider.

When alone, they drew close to each other, looking for each other to ease the lonely ache that had built up over the years. What started small, like holding hands and hugging, evolved out of public eyes.

Chaste kisses, holding each other, and breathing their Other's scent.

Heated kisses, hands exploring every dip and plane.

A soft body slipping into bed and cuddling into a muscled chest and thunder and lightning and wind fought for dominance outside, arms wrapping around her gingerly, gently breathing in her scent of jasmine and crisp snow.

She chased away his nightmares while he chased away her fears.

Onyx eyes gazing with lust and love and amusement into Hazel eyes filled with heat and adoration and embarrassment, as he purposely made her blush.

It was how they got where they were now.

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**Lemon hits next chapter. WOOOOOO CITRUS-Y GOODNESS!**


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